Guard



J. JOHNSON May 8, 1951 GUARD Filed Aug. 11, 1949 INVENTOR. dEmse vfi c/imczyz/ Patented May 8, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GUARD J osephJ ohnson, Chicago, Ill. 7

Application August 11, 1949, Serial No. 109,686

Figure 2 is ,a similar perspective of a womans shoe having no upper atthe rear and indicating the form of guard adapted for use with such ashoe;

Figure 3 is a perspective of the guard of Figure 2 by itself;

Figure 4 is a perspective of the guard of Figure 1 by itself;

Figure 5 is a longitudinal section of the guard of Figure 3; and

Figure 6 is a transverse partial section as on the line 6-6 of Figure 5.

In the embodiment of the invention selected for illustration, the shoeof Figure 1 includes the closed toe I9 and the conventional upper l2defining a curved heel portion M at the back end. The guard for such ashoe includes a cup of thin wall elongatable elastic material such asrubber, defining a front or breast wall l6, side walls l8 and a curvedrear wall 20 merging into the side walls. These parts are made of a sizesuch that assembling the guard as shown in Figure 1 stretches the sidewalls at least a 'ttle but not enough to make it difficult for thewearer to slip the guard in place. Because of the taper of the shoeheel, it is easy to have the upper portion of such a cup large enough toslip freely over the lower end of the heel and only begin to grip afterit has been slid partway up.

Referring to Figures 2' and 3, the front or breast wall 22 may or maynot be a little shorter than the breast wall 16 and the same applies tothe side walls 2i and the curved rear wall 25. Because the shoe ofFigure 2 has no curved portion corresponding to the portion M of Figure1, but that space is occupied by the heel of the foot of the wearer, Iprovide for the guard of Figures 2 and 3 a relatively short wide strapextending up at 28 past either side of the heel portion of the sole 3i]and a horizontal top reach 32 which lies on top of the sole and underthe heel of the user.

For similar support in the embodiment of Figures 1 and 4, I provide alonger narrower strap rising diagonally from the forward portions of 4Claims. (01. 36-70) 2 the side walls 18 to extend up on either side ofthe heel member [4 as indicated at 34.

Both guards would probably stay in place fairly well under mostconditions without the holding straps, but the addition of the holdingstraps renders the assembly reliable under substantially all conditions.

Both cups have integral bottoms extending across under the bottom of theshoe heel. Referring to Figures 5 and 6 the bottom of. the cup ofFigures 2 and 3 is indicated at 36. To the bottom I afiix aground-engaging member. The ground-engaging member illustrated is a pad38 of fairly stiff sponge rubber. At least, the side and rear edges ofthe pad 38 are rounded off as indicated at the rear at ll) in Figure 5and at the sides at 42 in Figure 6. The front or breast of the pad at 44need not necessarily be thus rounded. The purpose of the rounding is toincrease the action of the uard in avoiding spattering. Although onefunction of the guard is to protect the heel on which it is mounted fromdirt and Wet, an equally if not more important function is to avoid thespattering of wet and dirt. When either heel of an ordinary shoe is putdown, the liquid trapped under the flat bottom of it squirts out, anddrops fiy outward, and some of the drops fiy appreciably upward, and theother ankle and shoe of the wearer becomes bespattered with such drops.Because of the curvatures at it and 42, liquid issuing laterally frombeneath the flat portion of the pad 38 will not acquire much velocityuntil a substantial body of liquid lies beside the pad in contact withthe curved portion 49 and 42, and this relatively stagnant body ofliquid receives the energy of the liquid squirting out from under theflat portion and retards it so much that spattering from one heel to theother ankle and shoe is substantially eliminated.

Because the breast it would sprinkle only the under surface of the heelof the same shoe, the necessity for rounding it is materially less, andI prefer to leave it as indicated in the drawings. Others may readilyadapt the invention for use under various conditions of service byemploying one or more of the novel features involved, or equivalentsthereof. It will be obvious that a lady wearing no stockings and a shoeaccording to Figure 2 could use either guard. The guard of Figure 1 canbe worn with its strap 34 in contact with a stocking, but it tends topull the stocking out of place a little. A reinforcement of thin plasticunder the upper half of the strap 34 largely eliminates any tendency topull out of place. As at present advised with respect to the apparentscope of my invention, I desire to claim the following subject matter:

1. A heel sheath for use in combination with a conventional shoe havingno upper at the rear end, comprising, in combination: a cup member offlexible, elongatable sheet material; said member, in undistortedcondition, being slightly smaller than the heel to which it is to beapplied; and a mechanical pad underlying the bottom wall of said cupmember and aflixed thereto; said pad having a fiat bottom and verticalsides; the sideward and rearwardly facing Sides of said pad having theirlower portions curved inward at a substantial radius to mergetangentially with the flat bottom; the breast of said heel pad having asharp lower corner; the upper side portions of said cup being extendedand joined above the top of the cup; said extensions defining aresilient loop to overlie the heel portion of the sole of the shoe; saidloop and cup being of rubber; said pad being of sponge rubber.

2. A heel sheath for use in combination with a conventional shoe havinno upper at the rear end, comprising, in combination: a cup member offlexible, elongatable sheet material; said member, in undistortedcondition, being slightly smaller than the heel to which it is to beapplied; and a mechanical pad underlying the bottom wall of said cupmember and aifixed thereto; said pad having a fiat bottom and verticalsides; the sideward and rearwardly facing sides of said pad having theirlower portion curved inward at a substantial radius to mergetangentially with the fiat bottom; the upper side portions of said. cupbeing extended and joined above the top of the cup; said extensionsdefining a resilient loop to overlie the heel portion of the sole of 4the shoe; said loop and cup being of rubber; said pad being of spongerubber.

3. A heel sheath for use in combination with a conventional shoe havingno upper at the rear end, comprising, in combination: a cup member offlexible, elongatable sheet material; said member, in undistortedcondition, being slightly smaller than the heel to which it is to beapplied; and a mechanical pad at the bottom of said cup member andafiixed thereto; the upper side portions of said cup being extended andjoined above the top of the cup; said extensions defining a resilientloop to overlie the heel portion of the sole of the shoe and hold thesheath in place.

4. A heel sheath for use in combination with a conventional shoe havingno upper at the rear end, comprising, in combination: a cup memberhaving side walls of flexible, elongatable sheet material; said sideWalls, in undistorted condition, being slightly smaller than the heel towhich they are to be applied; the upper side portions of said cup beingextended and joined above the top of the cup; said extensions defining aresilient loop to overlie the heel portion of the sole of the shoe.

JOSEPH JOHNSON.

REFERENCES CITED. The following references are of record in the

